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At home in a tiny Normandie chateau whilst truffling out vintage treasures....

jeudi 17 septembre 2015

It appears my brocantitis is as bad as ever. I was diagnosed some times ago by Professor Collins of Vindefontaine.....This can only be cured with another truffling trip so the map is out and we are planning our trip for next week.Here is my diagnosis!! It is not madness or indeed old age, it is in fact Brocantitis. A little known disease discovered by Dr.Herbert dim. With very little warning it hits antique dealers after around 30 years of trading, and is particularly virulent after several years of selling on Ebay. Dr.Dims paper published by the G.M.C in 1971, symptomizes the truffling in old dowry chests filled with vintage French fabrics, delving into boxes of ormolu bronze fittings and grabbing Gustavian grey pediments often distressed with the passing of time. He goes on to warn of the dire consequences of haberdashering, the collecting of passementerie, buttons, trims and lace. Dim claims this all confuses the brain and eventually forces a shutdown, unless, while there is still a glimmer of hope, a period of abstinence from buying is enforced and a holiday taken for at least two weeks.If it is in fact too late for help a serious brocanting trips is all that will ease the symptoms.A la prochaine mes bellesxxx

mardi 15 septembre 2015

The pumpkin growing competition ends at Halloween and after my disastrous attempt I now appear to have quads!!My last efforts caved inwards after it`s outer skin was eaten by snails!Bit late though!!! OH well at least I tried...perhaps there will be a "BONZAI " pumpkin section?I have itchy feet and a bad case of brocantitis...I can feel a truffling trip coming on!!A la prochaine mes belles.

mercredi 9 septembre 2015

That feeling when you are looking at your lap top at 1am and find you are missing a huge textile and period costume auction from a film hire set company in Paris and can`t get there in time....I may never recover!!!!GULP!!!A la prochaine mes bellesxxxxx

vendredi 4 septembre 2015

How we look this morning.......but not a mist coming in from the marsh though. It is a mist from the powder as the old, battered 1950s render is removed from the exterior walls.When we found the chateau the old render was filthy dirty and would not clean. So we decided to try painting it but we never felt entirely happy with the result.We received a quote from a French company to renew the old render and decided that 42,000 euros sounded like we would be refurbishing every house in the village, and not just our four walls!!! After we got up off the floor having collapsed in shock after receiving that quote we decided to see what was actually beneath the old render - and held our breath as Mark put hammer to chisel and chipped a small portion off.The old stone looked fine so he carried on a little more and now....VOILA!!! She is looking very elegant as the work continues.She hasn`t stood resplendent showing off her original stone for 60 years - but now she can again.I can live with the dust and mist for these results!!

How we used to look originally

We tried painting but were never happy with the results!

Getting there!!

Don`t ask about the pumpkin...it collapsed after the snails ate the outer layer. I have 8 weeks to come up with a replacement!!!Bon weekend mes belles and good truffling...A la prochaine.